


And After All This Time

by WakeUpDreaming



Series: Holla to the Holidays: December 2015 Collection [15]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Christmas Eve, F/M, Future Fic, Gen, Jasiper wedding, Open bar, post-tartarus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-08 19:59:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5511068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WakeUpDreaming/pseuds/WakeUpDreaming
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Annabeth stands alone at Jason and Piper's wedding, seeing everyone for the first time since she left. For the first time since she ran from everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And After All This Time

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt: "“it´s my [insert family relation here]´s wedding and seeing all these happy couples is killing me and all i can think about is how this was almost us” AU (bonus: “i know that it’s two in the morning and i’m dressed really formally and a little (a lot) bit drunk but i couldn’t stop thinking about you after my grandma asked how you were doing also can i come in it’s freezing out here”)" Vaguely. I put in a lot of wiggle room.

She throws back another margarita that’s heavier on the tequila than the mix, and watches as Piper and Jason glide across the dance floor. The Christmas lights glitter with an ethereal glow that makes Piper look even more radiant, even more perfect than usual.

Everyone looks beautiful, though. Of course this thing had to be black tie – Aphrodite ruining everything, as usual. If it had been casual Annabeth could have come here in a sundress and shoes she can run off in. Instead she’s wearing a floor length navy gown with a slit so risky she’s convinced she’s flashed Tristan McLean at least twice and heels so high she’s taller than Jason. And she’s alone at the bar downing margarita after margarita as she watches her best friends float on air.

“At least they got a happy ending,” Annabeth grumbles, nodding at the bartender for another drink.

“Thank god for open bars, right?” says Clarisse, stepping next to Annabeth. “Who would have thought those two would last?”

Annabeth shrugs as the bartender slides a drink into her hand. She takes a long sip. “Kid of Aphrodite and the tenacity of a damn pit-bull,” Annabeth says. “Piper wants something done, it’ll happen.”

“You’re not bitter or anything,” Clarisse says. She looks lovely in the years since Annabeth’s seen everyone, but it just reminds Annabeth again of how different things have become since she left them all.

Annabeth throws her a look. “Shut up,” she snaps.

Clarisse actually shifts back. “Sorry,” she says, not sounding like it. “Just wanted to catch up with an old friend.”

“Yeah, well,” says Annabeth, taking another sip. “This old friend didn’t even want to be here.” She nods at the dancing, beaming couple. “Only here for them.”

Clarisse nods. “After everything,” she says quietly, “You still made it.”

“Barely,” Annabeth replies.

“You’re a good friend,” Clarisse insists. It’s uncharacteristically kind. Then again, what does Annabeth know of how people have changed.

Annabeth scoffs. “If I had been a good anything none of this would have happened, and you know it.”

The tune changes to something poppier, and soon Annabeth recognizes it as All I Want For Christmas Is You. Jason lights up and spins Piper around the dance floor, the rest of the guests at the wedding dancing with them. Rachel, Hazel, and Thalia look stunning in gold dresses that move as they dance, serving as another reminder that Annabeth hasn’t been here. She should have been wearing one of those dresses.

“Perfect,” she spits, voice full of venom.

“I’d offer to buy you a drink,” Clarisse says, “but, you know. Open bar.”

Annabeth laughs. “Yeah. But you can still order it for me.”

Clarisse calls over something else. “So, how long are you in the city for?” she asks. “First time back in, what, two years, right?”

Annabeth nods. “Before this I was here for Piper’s graduation. Crazy how time flies, right?”

“Crazy is right,” Clarisse agrees. “You, uh,” she tucks a piece of hair behind her ear, “you see Percy this visit?”

Pain washes through Annabeth’s body. “Haven’t seen him in seven years,” she admits.

Clarisse is visibly startled. “Not since –”

“No,” says Annabeth firmly. “Not since that.”

“Well,” says Clarisse, “if you need anything, tell me. I’ll make somebody else do it.”

“All I need is some space right now,” Annabeth replies, the fight going out of her voice. “But thanks, Clarisse. For being nice.”

Clarisse laughs. “You might as well say, ‘for once.’ I know you’re thinking it.”

Annabeth manages a laugh. “You got me there.”

The wedding continues, people dancing around each other in a way that almost pisses Annabeth off, and eventually the clock hits 11:30 and Annabeth just can’t be there anymore.

She throws the bartender a forty dollar tip, because she’s got a job that can afford it and he’s put up with her bitching all night, and makes her way to the head table where Piper, smiling like an angel, is finally on her own without anybody else hovering to chat with her.

“Hey, Pipes,” she says quietly into her friend’s ear. “I think I’ve got to go now.”

Piper looks at her. “Do you want me to call you a cab?” she asks.

Annabeth shakes her head. “I’ve got an uber on its way. I’m okay.”

Piper gives her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “We love you. You know that, right?” she says. “And we’ve missed you so much.”

Annabeth suddenly feels like crying. She decides to blame the tequila. “I’ve missed you too,” she confesses. “So much.”

Jason claps her on the back when he hugs her and tells her to “Not be a stranger,” and Annabeth laughs because she’s the only one who hasn’t seemed to move past everything, the only one who isn’t a new person since they battled the earth.

She accidentally gave the uber driver Percy’s mom’s old address, which she only realizes when she ends up in front of their building.

“I – I didn’t mean here,” she stammers.

“Too bad,” he says. “Already got another person. Pay up.”

She pays and steps out of the car, and she’s never felt so foolish. She’s on the streets of New York City, a place that’s become foreign to her in the years since she escaped to Northwestern, standing in front of her ex boyfriend’s mother’s house.

And then it gets worse.

“Annabeth?!” says Percy, sticking his head out the fourth story window. “What the – I barely recognized you.”

She winces. “No, Percy –”

“I’ll be right down,” he says without hesitation, and she half hates him for being so goddamn nice. He should be dumping garbage on her from the window, now telling her he’s coming to get her.

And then she gets mad because, no, he should have been at the wedding. He should have been standing next to Jason as Piper walked down the aisle.

The anger bleeds into rage, and she’s not drunk, she’s not.

“Where the hell were you?” Annabeth asks when Percy throws open the door. She stumbles on her heels. It’s the heels, she convinces herself. She’s not that drunk.

Percy looks bewildered as she shoves past him to the stairs, up into the apartment. “What?”

“Piper and Jason’s wedding,” Annabeth bites. “It was tonight, and there was a distinct lack of Poseidon spawn.”

“Okay,” Percy says, looking thrown. He holds up his hands in front of him. “I didn’t go because I knew you were going to be there.”

It stings more than Annabeth had expected it to. “Thanks,” she spits.

Percy groans. “Annabeth, I didn’t go because I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable. I know how things ended between us. Piper’s your best friend. I wasn’t going to go there and ruin the wedding for you.”

“It sucked either way,” Annabeth says, losing her balance slightly and leaning against his desk to steady herself. “And I could tell Jason missed you.”

“Yeah, well,” says Percy quietly. “I miss everybody too.”

The meaning behind his words doesn’t escape her and she risks look at him. Those goddamn baby seal eyes, looking so sad and so apologetic that Annabeth almost wishes he’d ever done something wrong to earn that guilty expression.

“Don’t do that, okay?” Annabeth says. “Just – don’t.”

“I’m sorry,” he says. And it sounds like he means it.

They stand in silence for too long, until Annabeth has to let out the breath she’s been holding.

“You know I forgive you, right?” Percy says before she can say anything.

She stares at him. “You what?”

“For – for the thing with –” He cuts himself off. He takes a deep breath as if to steady himslf before he says, “When you slept with Greg.”

Annabeth feels the same shame she’d felt as a freshman in college flood over her again. “I don’t talk to him anymore,” she says, because she feels like she needs to explain something.

Percy nods and offers her a little half smile. “I had a feeling.” There’s a moment between them – something about his smile and her nerves reminds Annabeth of the way they were before Tartarus, before they tried to destroy each other.

Before she got there first and destroyed him.

“Being away from everyone hurts,” Annabeth says, and it feels like it’s ripped from her. “It’s Christmas Eve and it’s the first one I’ve spent with other people, people I care about, since I was nineteen.” She takes a deep breath. “And I left all of them and came here and I don’t even know if you can stand to look at me anymore.”

Percy doesn’t hesitate to walk toward her and wrap his arms around her. For the first time since her freshman year of college, Annabeth cries. And cries. In the arms of her ex boyfriend, the one who always cared, the one who fell into hell with her.

The one whose heart she broke to punish herself.

He’s silent for as long as she needs him to be, just holding her in his living room until she’s cried out all the agony and tequila she can.

“You can stay in my bed,” Percy says when Annabeth pulls away. “I don’t think you should be alone in a hotel room tonight.”

“No, no,” Annabeth says, wiping her eyes. “No, Percy. I’ll stay on the couch.”

He brushes her hair out of her face. “I’ll take the couch,” he says. Then he touches her hair again, so gently it could have been a mistake. “Also, your hair is straight.”

She nods. “Figured it would be fancy for the wedding.”

He smiles at her. “I always liked your hair curly.”

She manages to return the smile. “I know.”

She can’t handle the way his clothing smells like him, the pair of pajama pants and the tee shirt fitting too loosely but she still feels a little enclosed.

“Where’s your mom?” Annabeth manages to ask.

Percy smiles. “Well,” he says, “she and Paul went to Florida for Christmas. Disney World, actually. With my little sister.”

Annabeth stares at him for a second. “You have a sister?!” she exclaims. “When did that happen?”

He looks uncomfortable. “Um,” he says, “when we were nineteen. She’s six now.”

Suddenly the reason behind his surprise visit all those years ago makes sense. “You were going to tell me about her,” Annabeth says quietly. “You – that’s why you came to NYU that night as a surprise.”

Percy nods. “Her name is Aimee,” Percy says. “Aimee Estelle Blofis.”

“I still think that’s a ridiculous last name,” Annabeth says with a smile.

Percy shrugs in the doorway. “That’s why I stayed Jackson.”

As he walks to the living room and she settles on his bed, Annabeth can’t help but wonder how different things would be, how different her life would be, if she’d never invited Greg back to her dorm room. Would she be in Percy’s bed still on Christmas Eve? Would she be Aimee Blofis’ big sister?

Would they have been the ones getting married tonight?

But what ifs don’t exist and a time machine is the one thing the gods haven’t invented, so she settles into Percy’s bed and dreams of the weeks at Camp Half Blood before Percy was taken.


End file.
